When Men Can Fly
by Eve-the-Charlotte
Summary: Merlin has a vision of the future, accompanied by a startling revelation about his own secrets.  slash/pre-slash Merlin/Arthur and Clark/Lex


_When Men Can Fly _by _Eve-the-Charlotte_

Universes: Merlin (TV Series) and Smallville (TV Series). A bit of AU on both parts.

Disclaimer: I own neither Smallville nor Merlin. Smallville belong to DC. Merlin belongs to BBC. Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Pairings: Implied Lex/Clark, implied one-sided Clark/Lana and Lex/Lana, and pre-slash/slash Merlin/Arthur.

Inspiration: Epiphanies.

&Superman&

He dreams. The dark-haired boy-man in the small, cramped straw bed dreams of the future that is perhaps a millennium away, with men who operate strange metallic beasts to help with the sowing and reaping of crops and don soft shirts with designs like the wild beastlike Picts wear and leggings that are loose and made of a tough blue fabric. He dreams of one of these sorts of men flying, like levitating, but soaring through the air as though a bird.

The flying man is beautiful, dark-haired like the dreamer, and has luminescent green eyes so unnaturally bright the gorgeous creature can not be human. The flying man is tall, far taller than any man that the dreamer has ever seen and stronger than any other either. The flying man keeps this gift a secret, along with all of other of his gifts, like his speed, his strength, the fiery blasts that pour from his eyes when enraged, his breath, coolest of breaths, that chill objects to ice, his eyes that can see through all except dullest lead, and the list goes on! The flying man must keep everything he is a secret from everyone save his adoptive parents, even his heritage (he came from a land beyond the stars of night) and his true name, Kal. Kal instead acted as though he were as normal as the rest of men, which the dreamer could understand and relate to very well. After all, the dreamer had a few secrets of his own to keep hidden.

Kal lives in a wondrous village, with metal beasts that swallow men up and transport them to their destinations and buildings taller than trees! The village is larger than the castle where the dreamer resides with his prince, much larger than any part of the civilized world the dreamer has ever dared to imagine. Kal has friends, a bald woman with hair scandalously short and wearing leggings like a _man_ at times, a man with skin as dark as charcoal but teeth white as the moon, a dark-haired woman with looks of a lioness and a dark glimmer in her eyes that the dreamer can not help but notice, and an hairless man with clothes that the dreamer knew, just _knew_ were worthy of royalty even in that far off future and grey eyes that would only warm upon meeting Kal's.

The hairless man's eyes, oh, they spoke wonders to the dreamer, of love and longing and countless secrets and instances of sadness that the dreamer feel his heart break. However, when the hairless man, Lex as Kal calls him, is with Kal, all the pain is washed away, along with the secrets and the lies. Lex allows Kal to see the part of him that is good, and Kal loves the good, enough to encourage Lex's goodness to grow inside himself. That good, once as small as a mustard seed, is flourishing, driving away the darkness inside Lex's soul. And Kal does not realize it, not at all.

The dreamer spies Kal's supposed longing for the lioness woman, caused by visions of normality and denial of both his love for Lex and the chance that Lex may return his love. The lioness, in her dark heart, smiles like a cat that eats a bird dipped in cream. People do not change, not even in this far off land of metal beasts and buildings that touch the sky. Kal grows older, his abilities grow stronger, and his relationships worsen. Kal wants so desperately to deny what he truly is that he pushes all away, even and especially Lex. The lioness, though thriving on her own sins, can not tolerate liars and leaves with Lex, seducing the hairless man into courting and then marrying her. The dreamer feels Kal's heart break at the sight of the invitation to the wedding of _Alexander Luthor & Lana Lang_. The bald woman, who has figured out Kal's secrets, urges Kal to stop the wedding. Kal does not, believing the safety of the lies that he does not deserve Lex (his longing for Lana stopped when he finally saw the lioness's teeth) and Lex would be so much happier without him.

Kal dons a suit of red and blue and begins to help those who can not save themselves, while he does not reveal his human alias. Lex is no longer married to Lana, by some strange law-related thing that the dreamer does not quite comprehend. Kal sees Lex again who, despite all odds, still has the tendrils of goodness inside, not growing but not withering. Kal weeps after the encounter, which makes the dreamer uncomfortable, as he has not seen a man shed tears once he becomes a man. Lex comes and embraces Kal. They kiss and do all sorts of other things that the king would execute a person for, claiming witchcraft as the source of the abnormality.

Lex and Kal grow old together, in a living area (honestly, the dreamer can not think of anything to really compare it to) with quite a few children. The dreamer is astonished not only that the two have children but that no children die in their youth. Kal carried Lex in his arms as the two men fly with the clouds between their knees. The sight makes the dreamer smile, picturing maybe, one day, he and his prince doing the same-

"_Mer_-lin, wake up, you poor excuse for a manservant! I need my armor shined spotless for the tournament tomorrow!"

-thing, if Merlin did not kill His Royal Highness Prince Arthur of Camelot first. And such a nice, if not overly girlish, dream the prat interrupted. Merlin cracked open one blue eye to observe exactly what state His Royal Prat-ness was in. It was just as Merlin suspected; Arthur still was dressed in his night clothes, waiting for Merlin to dress him for the day.

Prince Arthur noticed Merlin's eye open and proceeded to rant, er, reprimand his manservant for his utter stupidity. Honestly, Arthur having to wake up his own manservant, when the idiot should be the one waking _him _up! The idea was preposterous, no matter which way one viewed it! The prince was about to reprimand even more when Merlin had the sudden gall to catch Arthur's arm (which was not flailing about like a madwoman's, thank you very much) and drag him into the straw bed. Arthur was about to really dig into the idiot, when the prince noticed the sudden serious, studying look on Merlin's face. His manservant drew Arthur closer, so that Arthur was practically on Merlin's lap, their chests were touching, and the two were eye to eye. Arthur gulped, not noticeably mind you, and made a point to try not to shiver at the proximity between Merlin and himself.

"Arthur, I have something very important to show you," Merlin whispered as his eyes began to glow like the golden sun.

Fin.

&Superman&

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